Due to the actual or perceived threat of violence today, firearms are more likely to be the weapon of choice for the public in situations where individuals believe that they must arm themselves in preparation for immediate retaliation or defense because of a threat of unknown force. Unfortunately, such firearms are typically weapons, such as rifles, semi-automatic handguns and revolvers, all of which are intended to fire lethal projectiles which are intended to maim and/or kill. While non-lethal projectiles do not have the deadly stopping power of a high velocity bullet fired from a firearm, such deadly force is generally not necessary to deter many typical crimes. Moreover, there are many situations where deadly force is either, not needed, wanted or even permitted by law. In fact, many states prohibit the use of deadly force unless one's own life or the lives of one's family are at stake. Many crimes do not involve this type of situation, such as burglaries, vandalism, robberies and the like where your own life is clearly not in danger. As a result, non-lethal weapons would very likely stop the crime in progress or at least provide a temporary time break, permitting one to flee in safety.
Non-lethal weapons make an excellent weapon for the Military to deal with individuals in a war zone when it may be difficult to distinguish who is the combatant and who is the innocent civilian. Non-lethal weapons are needed where conflict and disasters occur within population centers. Their use often would prevent the worsening of bad situations. Non-lethal weapons like blunt-impact rounds, pepper rounds and others stopped and/or dispersed noncombatants who posed a threat to forces in Kosovo, Iraq, Haiti and Afghanistan. They also helped determine the intentions of operators of small boats that were nearing U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels.
For Law Enforcement non-lethal weapons are designed to fill a critical gap in the use of force and to provide law enforcement officers the safest, most effective tools in a variety of applications. These weapons help officers gain control of the suspect's fear, encouraging them to surrender, de-escalating the situation and reducing the number of use-of-force incidents. In a riot situation law enforcement officers armed with non-lethal weapons indicates to the crowd that law enforcement is here to keep the peace but is not here to use unnecessary force or escalate the situation. Organized protesters are communicating via mobile phones and can bring together large numbers of likeminded people. This is putting tremendous pressure on law enforcement officers to deal with large hostile crowds without seriously injuring the protesters.
What is needed in the art is a non-lethal projectile that does not hit the target, but instead, sends a gas or the like into the target, disabling the target, and then self-destructs.